


Turning Points

by LacrimaDraconis



Category: Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-15
Updated: 2011-03-15
Packaged: 2017-10-17 00:19:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/170913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LacrimaDraconis/pseuds/LacrimaDraconis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elena reflects on her relationship with Damon</p>
            </blockquote>





	Turning Points

_**TVD-fic: Turning Points (gen, Elena)**_  
 **Title:** Turning Points  
 **Author:**[](http://lacrimadraconis.livejournal.com/profile)[ **lacrimadraconis**](http://lacrimadraconis.livejournal.com/)    
 **Pairing / Characters:** gen, Elena  
 **Spoilers:** throughout all of season 1  
 **Rating:** PG  
 **Word count:** ~ 1600  
 **Summary:** Elena reflects on her relationship with Damon  
 **Disclaimer:** Written for fun, not for profit

 **A/N:** Awesomely betaed by [](http://wattle-neurotic.livejournal.com/profile)[**wattle_neurotic**](http://wattle-neurotic.livejournal.com/) ♥

Elena sometimes wonders how it is even possible for them to be friends.

She remembers exactly what it had been like, meeting Damon Salvatore for the first time. She had mainly been surprised since Stefan never told her that he had a brother, so facing a relative of Stefan all of a sudden had been interesting for her.

He had been a real gentleman back then, kissing her hand and charming her with a blinding smile. She had been intrigued, yes, but that was before she learned what he was. And, later on, who he was.

He is an ass. She had said so herself, and to an extent – quite an extent sometimes – she thinks that he can still be exactly that.

But things have changed since then, not only between her and Damon, but  everything and every relationship in her world had been turned upside down at least once over the course of the last few weeks.

The Damon she had met at the boarding house for the first time seems to be from such a distant past, he could have very well been a completely different person.

She can't pin it down to any specific event or an exact moment, but at some point she had stopped seeing Damon solely as the bad big brother of her boyfriend. She understands Stefan’s concern and sees why he is careful to not let his guard down when it comes to Damon. She is glad that he watches out for her, but still, she likes to form her own opinion of the people around her and once she had accepted that the older Salvatore brother now seemed to be a part of her life as well as Stefan, she was doing just this.

Sure, Damon can still be snarky, arrogant and glib. And, of course, she hasn’t forgotten what an abusive bastard he had been; using Caroline as a walking, talking snack bar for blood and compelling her into doing whatever tickled his fancy. Neither does she want to examine too closely how many people Damon killed since he had come back to Mystic Falls, but she also knows that Damon has been changing lately too.

It’s not that she had forgiven him for turning Vickie, killing people or the things he did to Caroline, but she was absolutely, 100 percent convinced that Damon wouldn’t do these things anymore. She can’t explain this thought rationally, it is more of a feeling she has; this kind of understanding between them that doesn’t happen on a conscious level, but still makes her see his motives and the reasons behind his behavior.

He is different now and this somehow makes it okay for her.

She had caught a first glimpse of this other side of him, when he had taken her on that little “road trip” to Georgia. At first she had been convinced it was more of some kind of kidnapping, him taking her with him for his own purposes, but that obviously hadn’t been the case. At that moment, she had been in a very bad place and Damon made her step away from it.

She can still feel a slight stinging, recalling the events around her car accident. When she found out that striking resemblance she had to Katherine. When she didn’t know what to think about Stefan’s feelings toward her anymore. Damon had made her step away from that, made her forget her problems for a moment, made her simply have fun.

He had been nothing but honest with her and she admittedly had a good time with him. He had been joking with her, kidding around, but also he answered her sincerely when she asked about things. She had enjoyed his company and she had known that she was always safe with him.

It had come as a shock when Lexi’s boyfriend had used her as bait to get his hands on Damon, and her heart still beats faster when she remembers how close of a call it really was; him getting beaten down and drenched in gasoline, the attacker ready to set him alight.

She had started talking then without even thinking about it, just wanting to make sure nothing would happen to Damon. She had known the danger of it, realization dawning on her as she understood who this stranger was.

“Be better than him!” she had pleaded with Lee and relief had almost overwhelmed her when he finally left.

She suddenly realizes that Stefan had been right about her and Damon after their little trip. Something had changed between them and, as Stefan put it, they had bonded. She values this new side of Damon she had come to know and he had been grateful that she saved his life.

It is only now that she can begin to comprehend how much her betrayal later on must have really hurt him.

He had always been honest with her and she had lied to his face, betraying his newfound trust in her, even though she knew he never had been a very trustful person in the first place. Yes, she had done it for a higher purpose, to help Stefan preventing Katherine from coming back, but still...

That moment of seeing the expression of sheer disappointment and hurt on Damon’s face, him showing real emotion for the first time, had been the moment she decided to never lie to him again, no matter what.

Even after he had forced some of his blood down her throat, threatening to turn her into a vampire, she hadn’t backed away from her decision. And neither had she backed away from him or his attitude when she had gone to him, explaining and promising him, trying to show how serious she was.

“I wanted it to be real.” He had answered her question to why he didn’t compel her in Atlanta, and his words had made something inside of her break.

 “I’m trusting you. Don’t make me regret it.”

Trust didn’t come naturally to him and yet there he was, believing her and forgiving her for no other reason than him simply choosing to do so.

Because he wanted to.

From that point on, she muses, she had found a place for him in her life.

He never came to leave Mystic Falls as he originally planned after the devastating events surrounding the opening of that tomb, and frankly, she had been happy about it.

He could still be an arrogant bastard and an ass sometimes, but he was entertaining company; his playful banter and flirting amusing yet still flattering her. She had really started to see him as a friend, as someone she cared about and who cared about her in return.

And he had really been a friend. So much that she actually wonders if she would have ever made it through Stefan’s human blood problem without him.

He had stepped in for Stefan at the Miss Mystic pageant and saved her from the massive embarrassment of not knowing where her escort went.

Even in this situation, Damon had made it possible to draw her attention away from anything surrounding her, made her forget her current problems and just be herself instead. He had been the perfect gentleman, the perfect dance partner and she had seen him in a very different light that instant.

He had been smiling down at her so openly and genuinely, his blue eyes not leaving hers once that she had found herself smiling back at him, letting him guide her and getting lost in the moment.

She had almost been a little startled when the music stopped and he eventually had to let go of her.

Damon had been there for her when nobody else was able to help her, comforting her by simply keeping her company through the long nights in front of Stefan’s cell and his cocky teasing had taken her mind off of the darker thoughts of the day.

These moments that she shared with him, had made her realize that not only did he care about her but he cared about his brother, too. Of course, he would never cave to acknowledge this, not even when she had called him out on it, but that is just Damon for you.

She knows that he had thought differently and is well aware of his very loyal and very protective streak when it comes to the people he cares about. He doesn’t need to say it out loud for her.

When she had learned that Damon had been shot with vervain and was trapped in the basement of a burning building, the fear she had felt surging up inside of her had pressed down on her almost like a physical weight.

She had run over there, blindly following Stefan, and she had wanted to get Damon out of the fire desperately. She simply couldn’t lose him. But Bonnie had grabbed and held onto her, not letting go of her and she wanted to help Stefan save him but it hadn’t been possible.

She had been so relieved to see both brothers finally coming out of the fire, Damon getting dragged out by Stefan, heavily leaning on the younger one’s shoulder; hurt and exhausted but very much alive, she couldn’t deny just how deeply she really cared about him and what it meant.

No matter what awful things Damon might have done in the past, it meant that somewhere along the way she must have decided that he was worth saving.

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